Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park- (Crete)
The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park is a 100-acre prairie setting with 30 large-scale sculptures. The “museum-in-the-prairie” is free to the public and open 365 days a year. The Park offers art and nature programs for adults and children. Grants and donations from corporations and individuals founded and supported the Governors State University Museum. The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park was named for Nathan Manilow, a visionary developer who, along with Carrol Sweet and Philip Klutznick, founded American Community Builders at the end of WWII. They planned and developed Park Forest for returning GIs. Sculptor Mark diSuvero spent the summers of 1968 and 1969 living and creating sculpture on the property that would become GSU. Art, Conservation, and Education are its three foundations. The Park has put the Southland on the cultural map with unique installations. Outdoor sanctuaries are rare in the South Suburbs of Chicago, and this is one of them. Keeping and expanding natural prairies is one of its main values. They join Bill Dodd in his endeavor to leave the landscape better than we found it. Donations support the Bill Dodd Memorial Fund’s conservation philosophy.1971 and Lewis Manilow took over the family business. It is a gift to GSU from Mark diSuvero
Nathan Manilow passed away in . From 1981 through 1991, the Park Forest South Cultural Foundation commissioned artists to produce “Field Rotation,” “Bodark Arc,” and “House Divided.” Goodman-Malamuth retired in 1992, and Paula Wolfe was named third president. In 2000, President Wolfe resigned and was replaced by Dr. Stuart Fagan. They began working with the director of the State of Illinois Capital Development Board’s Percent for Art program to realize a series of park commissions. By 2007, Fagan retired. GSU’s sixth president is Elaine P. Maimon and Geoffrey Bates is named the park’s first Director and Curator. He Creates and passes bylaws for the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. As part of CDB Percent for Art, Dan Peterman would then construct “The Granary Project”. Today, they continue to maintain the park. The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park is known for its large-scale public sculpture. Visitor cultural perspectives are broadened by the museum’s creative exhibitions, events, and arts and nature experiences.
